Staff layoffs at facilities across Nova Scotia are affecting the quality of care residents receive in nursing homes.

The staff layoffs are the result of $8.2 million in budget cuts to long-term care, which is a much higher amount than originally announced by the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness.

Workers have received layoff notices, or reduced hours of work, at several facilities including nursing homes in Middleton, Port Hawkesbury, Halifax, Dartmouth and Amherst. More cuts are expected across the province.

CUPE long-term care workers are speaking up to defend quality of care and to demand that the McNeil government reverse the cuts.

What’s at stake?

All workers in the nursing home are important to delivery of quality care for residents – from food services, to housekeeping, to nursing staff.

Less staff in one area of the home will just mean more work for the remaining staff and a decline in the quality of care each residents receives. The layoffs may also make it more difficult for remaining staff to provide a safe and secure environment for residents.

The provincial government’s budget cuts are having a serious impact on the lives of nursing home staff and their families, as well as on the residents they care for.

They deserve better.

What can you do?

CUPE members, concerned members of the public, and anyone with a loved one residing in a nursing home, are asked to send an email to their MLA and Health and Wellness Minister Leo Glavine asking them to reverse the budget cuts.